1,1,1,2-Tetrafluoroethane, CF3CH2F (also known as HFC-134a, F-134a, or R-134a), can be used as a refrigerant, an aerosol propellant, a heat transfer medium, a gaseous dielectric, a fire extinguishing agent, an expansion agent for polyolefins and polyurethanes, a fluid for absorption cooling systems, and a power cycle working fluid. R-134a is nonflammable, has no ozone depletion potential, and has low global warming potential. It is therefore suited as a replacement for chlorine-containing gases, such as chlorofluorocarbons and hydrochlorofluorocarbons, that are believed to be involved in ozone depletion.
Depending on the operating conditions under which R-134a is made, 1,1,2,2-tetrafluoroethane, CHF2CHF2 (also known as HFC-134, F-134, or R-134), can also be made as a product of the synthesis. R-134 and R-134a may be obtained from a variety of different manufacturing processes or sources. For example, a mixture containing R-134 and R-134a can be produced by reacting a mixture containing CF3CCl3 (R-113a) and CCl2FCClF2 (R-113) with hydrogen fluoride to produce a mixture containing CCl2FCF3 (R-114a) and CClF2CClF2 (R-114). The mixture containing R-114a and R-114 is then hydrogenated under appropriate conditions to produce a mixture of R-134a and R-134. This mixture containing R-134a and R-134 can also contain impurities, such as CClHFCF3 (R-124), CHF2CClF2 (R-124a) and unreacted R-114 and R-114a.
R-134 is also useful as a refrigerant, and for other applications as described above for R-134a. R-134 and R-134a are, however, difficult to separate because they have similar boiling points—the normal boiling point of R-134 being −19.6° C. and the normal boiling point of R-134a being −26.1° C. These close boiling points make efficient separation of R-134 and R-134 by conventional distillation extremely difficult because of the tendency of those components to form an azeotrope, azeotropic composition or an azeotrope-like composition in a mixture. In order to achieve separation by conventional distillation, impracticably tall columns would have to be operated at high reflux ratios, which would likely result in high capital and operating costs, and possibly also in substantial yield loss of the product.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,470,442 discloses a method for separating R-134 and R-134a from each other, and/or from fluorocarbon impurities, by extractive distillation where an alcohol is used as the extractive agent. U.S. application Ser. No. 11/525,466, which by this reference is incorporated in its entirety as a part hereof for all purposes, describes the use of ionic liquids in separation processes to separate components of mixtures. Despite these existing separation processes, a need still remains for a separation process better suited to the objective of separating R-134 and R-134a from each other.